The Seven Read: The Lightning Thief!
by Jypsi
Summary: See the Seven's reactions to Percy's story, starting from the very beginning at Yancy Academy! Disclaimer: I own none of Percy Jackson THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR HoO (I apologize for grammar/spelling errors) Please comment your thoughts :)
1. Prologue

**Hi guys, it's Jypsi, I've seen a lot of these lately and decided to see if I was any good! Please comment your thoughts, constructive criticism, should I continue? (If so will update about once a week.)**

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters or the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series. They belong to Rick Riordan.**

**SPOILER ALERT**

**(I apologize in advance for any misspellings, grammar errors, or capitalization errors.)**

**Prologue**

**Annabeth:** Annabeth is sitting on her bed, thinking of how much she misses Percy, when all of a sudden she disappears in a flash of light.

**Leo:** Leo is working on the Argo II, unable to believe that soon they will be ready to go to Camp Jupiter, and meet the infamous Percy Jackson, when he is engulfed in a flash of light.

**Piper:** Piper is in the dining pavilion with her cabinmates, wishing she had a love with Jason as strong as Annabeth and Percy's supposedly is, when she is swept up by a flash of light.

**Jason:** Jason is having sword practice against a dummy, wondering what this Percy guy could have done to be so honored at Camp Half-Blood, when he is blinded and taken by a flash of light.

**Frank and Hazel:** Frank is sitting in New Rome with Hazel, hoping Percy is reunited with this "Annabeth" one day when all of a sudden he and Hazel are covered with a light and moved from their cozy bench.

**~Yours truly**

**Jypsi**


	2. I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebr

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters or the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series. They belong to Rick Riordan.**

**SPOILER ALERT**

**(I apologize in advance for any misspellings, grammar errors, or capitalization errors.)**

**Please comment your thoughts! I love to get constructive criticism, it helps to know what you're doing wrong!**

**Chapter 1: I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher**

**(Annabeth POV)**

"Whoa!" Annabeth shouts when she reappears in a small room, grabbing her dagger.

"Augh!" Leo screams when he is deposited on a rug in front of the fireplace, brandishing his hammer.

"Whee!" Piper shrieks joyfully as she lands gracefully on her feet near a beige couch.

"What in Hades?" Jason yells as he rolls out of a golden cyclone onto a well-cushioned chair.

"Hazel!" An unknown boy shouts as he belly-flops onto a small loveseat.

"Frank!" A young girl (supposedly Hazel) shouts as she lands on top of the boy.

"Who… Are you?" Annabeth says, recovering from her surprise and taking a look around. The six people (She expects the two unknowns are demigods by the look of their swords) have been deposited into a cozy room, with a fire going in the hearth, and comfy beige furniture to match the walls.

"Uhh… Who are you?" The unknown boy says in reply, then says, "Where's Percy? Hazel?"

"Yea?" The girl says, apparently Hazel.

"You know Percy?" Annabeth says in her most demanding tone.

"Annabeth!" Piper exclaims. "Let's introduce ourselves and then find out who they are, then we'll question." She pauses, and gets a solemn nod from Annabeth in response. "I'm Piper, daughter of Aphrodite. This is Jason," she says, gesturing to Jason, "Son of Jupiter."

"Jason!" Hazel says in delight and tackle hugs him.

"Hazel?" He says in disbelief.

"Yeah!"

Piper clears her throat and the two return to where they were. "This is Leo, son of Hephaestus," She points at Leo, who is tinkering with some paper clips. Hazel seems to be looking at him strangely. "And that's Annabeth, daughter of Athena."

"You're Annabeth? Man Percy's _always _talking about you." Frank says.

"So you do know Percy?" Annabeth says excitedly. "You must be from Camp Jupiter!" Hazel, Frank, and Jason all nod their heads.

"I'm Frank, son of Mars, and this is Hazel, daughter of Pluto." Frank says. "Percy came to us a little while back and-" Suddenly a small green and black book appears on the coffee table in front of Annabeth.

"_**Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief**_" She reads. "Percy wrote a book? Doesn't sound like him." She says. Then a single white note appears on the table. Annabeth grabs it.

_I would like you all to read this with each other, you need to get to know each other's past before you continue to the future._

_-Hera_

"Read it?" Leo says. "We're all dyslexic, how's that supposed to work?"

"Actually, I'm not." Frank says.

"Then we have a volunteer to read first!" Leo says, grinning. Just then, another piece of paper lands on Leo's lap.

_I've taken care of your dyslexia for now, enjoy!_

_-Hera_

"So…" Piper says. "Who wants to go first?"

"I will." Annabeth says, opening the book. "After all, he is my Seaweed Brain."

"**Chapter 1: I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher**."

"Are all of the chapter's going to have such weird names?" Jason says coldly.

"If I know Percy, yes." Hazel says.

"**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"None of us did, Percy." Frank muttered.

"**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**"

"Oh no, Percy's giving advice?" Annabeth said worriedly, before continuing.

"**Close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**"

"Actually not too bad advice…" Piper said.

"**Being a half-blood is dangerous.**"

"Yep." Leo said.

" **It's scary.**"

"Definitely." Frank said.

"**Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**"

"You better believe it." Annabeth said.

"**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**"

"Mortals can read this?" Hazel said worriedly.

"I guess…" Piper said.

"**But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you feel something inside-stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that it's only a matter of time before **_**they **_**sense it too, and they'll come for you.**"

"Apparently he _can _give good advice!" Annabeth said in disbelief.

"**Don't say I didn't warn you.**"

"Nobody warned _me_." Jason muttered irritably. Annabeth wondered what that was about.

"**My name is Percy Jackson.**"

"No," Leo said sarcastically, "I thought it was Aphrodite!"

"**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**"

"He's troubled?" Piper whispered.

"**Am I a troubled kid?**"

Annabeth, Hazel, and Frank all said, "For sure," in unison, and then snickered.

"**Yeah. You could say that.**

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan- twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**"

"Ugh." Leo sympathized. "Sounds like torture."

"**I know-it sounds like torture.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**"

Annabeth smiled at this, happy to know Mr. Brunner hadn't revealed his true form before.

"**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he was cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**"

"Sounds like Chiron!" Piper said happily.

"Who's Chiron?" Hazel asked.

Annabeth waved her off, she would find out, surely.

"**I hoped this trip would be okay. At least, I hoped for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**"

Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel all burst out laughing.

"What's funny?" Jason asked.

With tears of laughter in her eyes, Annabeth managed to squeak out between giggles, "Percy? Not get in trouble? He's gotta be kidding!"

"**Boy was I wrong.**

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**"

At that point all six of them were laughing very loudly, Leo even fell out of his chair which made them laugh more.

"**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that… Well, you get the idea.**"

"No!" Piper managed between laughs. "Go on!" They all continued guffawing.

"**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**"

"What?" Annabeth screeched, a murderous look in her eyes.

"**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back by several grades with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**"

"Aww Grover, already blowing your furry cover!" Piper said.

"**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death**"

"Wait what?!" Annabeth screamed. "Oh nevermind," she said, continuing.

"**By in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"**I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

"**That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**"

"Percy would do in-school suspension for someone?" Leo said in disbelief.

Hazel, Frank, and Annabeth all nodded.

"Hmm… Brave guy."

""**You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.**"

"He would deck a girl?" Hazel said worriedly.

"Only if needed," Annabeth reassured here quickly.

"**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up in front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past the marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**"

"Longer, Seaweed Brain, much longer." Annabeth murmured fondly.

"**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a **_**stele**_**, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**"

"Real evil…" Annabeth muttered.

"Huh?" Frank said.

"Nothing!" Annabeth quickly replied.

"**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**"

"Nice Grover, blowing your goaty cover _again_." Piper whispered.

"**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you **_**shut up**_**?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**"

"Of course it did," Hazel laughed. "This is Percy we're talking about!"

"**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

"**Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**"

Annabeth had almost forgotten that Percy had been much more awkward before Camp Half-Blood.

"**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

"**Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because…"**

"**Well…" I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-"**"

"Tut-tut." Leo said.

""**God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

"**Titan," I corrected myself. "And… he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"**

"**Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"**-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**"

"He does know something!" Annabeth said in delight. Hazel and Frank laughed.

"**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're ever going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

"**And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "To paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**"

"Busted!" Piper and Leo said.

""**Busted," Grover muttered.**"

The six demigods laughed at Piper and Leo's earlier comment.

""**Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**"

"I'll say!" Jason said incredulously.

"**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**"

Annabeth looked happy for her Seaweed Brain to be going back to normal.

""**I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go-intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**"

"He was perceptive." Frank stated.

""**You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

"**About the Titans?"**"

"Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth said, rolling her eyes.

""**About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

"**Oh."**"

"A normal Percy response." Hazel said, and the group laughed.

""**What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have attention deficit disorder and I have never made above a C- in my life. No-he didn't expect me to be **_**as good**_**; he expected me to be **_**better**_**. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**"

All of the demigods nodded in sympathy, they had gone through the attention deficit disorder too. All except Frank, who wasn't nodding.

"You don't have ADHD?" Piper asked Frank.

"No, or dyslexia. Just lactose intolerance." The others looked at him jealously.

"**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**"

"He probably was, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth whispered.

"**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm cloud was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**"

"What's got the gods all angry?" Jason said.

"Shh." Annabeth said. "You'll find out, I'm sure."

"**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from **_**that **_**school-the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"**Detention?" Grover asked.**

"**Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean-I'm not a genius."**

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**"

"He really loves his mom…" Hazel said wistfully.

"Yep." Annabeth said, smiling.

"**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**"

"Oh!" Leo said. "Good idea!" And then began making a list of parts he would need, until Piper slapped the pen out of his hand.

"**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends-I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**"

Annabeth made a growling noise in the back of her throat at that.

""**Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**"

"Sounds gorgeous." Piper said.

"**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**"

Annabeth grinned proudly.

"**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see-"**

"**-the water-"**

"**-like it grabbed her-"**

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-"**

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**"

"No!" Leo said. "Never try and guess your punishment!"

"**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But-"**

**"You-will-stay-here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked. I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**"

Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel shuddered.

"What?" Jason said.

"That stare is terrible." Annabeth said. "If you have to choose between Percy's I'll-kill-you-later stare and Medusa's stare, go with Medusa."

"**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**"

"That's not a good sign." Piper muttered.

"**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**"

"He's smarter than you guys make him out to be." Leo said.

"**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**"

"Another bad sign." Piper said.

"**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if**

**she wanted to pulverize it…**"

"What kind of monster is this?" Hazel asked.

"You'll see," Annabeth said, shushing her.

"**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**"

"Some kind of evil monster, Hazel." Frank said. Hazel rolled her eyes.

"**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, "I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**"

"Is Zeus mad at him?" Jason said.

"You'll find out!" Annabeth said quickly, then continued.

"**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before**

**we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**"

"Hmm… Less pain or more pain…" Leo said sarcastically. "Let's go less!"

"**I didn't know what she was talking about.**"

"That's a typical Percy problem." Hazel said, smiling.

"**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**"

They all laughed, and Annabeth said, "He does the same at Camp!" And they laughed harder.

"**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade.**"

Annabeth scowled.

"**Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**"

The demigods, except for Frank, all sympathized. Not wanting to read was something most demigods shared, because of dyslexia.

"**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**"

"That's a good sign to run." Leo said.

"**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**"

"Fury!" Jason yelled.

"**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**"

"Is that-" Frank said.

"Yep." Annabeth replied.

"**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword-Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**"

"He's scared?" Leo said, startled. "Man at least he's holding a sword! I just fell off a cliff when I met my first monster!"

The others laughed at Leo.

"**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally:**" Annabeth said.

"**I swung the sword.**" I swung the sword was said by two voices though. One was Annabeth's… The other's was deeper, familiar. It sounded like home to Annabeth.

She whirled around to see her green-eyed sea prince standing behind her. Apparently he had surprised them all, because all of the demigods were gawking at Percy.

"So…" Piper said. "You're Percy?"

"Yep." Percy said, resting his hand on Annabeth's chair. "And you are…?"

"Piper." She said quickly. "Daughter of Aphrodite. And this is my friend Leo, Son of Hephaestus, And my boyfriend, Jason, Son of Jupiter."

"I've heard a lot about you," Percy said, smiling at Jason.

"Same here." Jason said, but there seemed to be some venom in his tone.

"Percy?" Frank and Hazel both said at the same time.

"Hey guys." He said, grinning that smile Annabeth had fallen in love with. Then he turned to her. "Hey Wise Girl."

She stood up and walked around to him, then punched him in the arm. "How dare you leave me for months, Seaweed Brain?" She yelled. Percy had the nerve to laugh.

"Love you too, Wise Girl." He said, hugging her tightly. Then he let her go and said, "Hera told me we were reading?"

"Yep." Piper said. "And you just caused a total cliffhanger. Start reading Annabeth!"

Percy sat down in Annabeth's chair, but she didn't mind sitting on his lap so she snuggle up to him and started again.

"**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. **_**Hisss!**_

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**"

"Pretty good description." Frank said.

"**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**"

"Magic… Mushrooms?" Piper said incredulously.

"I heard it in a book. And I was twelve." Percy said, grinning.

"**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**"

"Five drachmas says Grover gave away the Mist." Annabeth said.

"I don't think I'm going to take you up on that," Hazel said.

"**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**"

"Zeus really didn't like you." Jason stated.

"Still doesn't." Percy replied.

"**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**"

Annabeth noticed Percy had Riptide out, and was rolling the pen around in his hands. She smiled.

"**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**"

"He still asks me that question." Percy said, smiling. He had his arm around Annabeth and she was snuggled into his chest, which made her just about the happiest girl in the world right now.

"So," Hazel said, "who wants to read chapter two?" When nobody volunteered, she said, "Fine. I will."

**~Yours truly**

**Jypsi**


	3. Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters or the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series. They belong to Rick Riordan.**

**SPOILER ALERT**

**(I apologize in advance for any misspellings, grammar errors, or capitalization errors.)**

**Please review! I love to get constructive criticism, it helps to know what I'm doing wrong! (Can I set a goal for a number of reviews?) So, for the last Chapter (One) & Prologue I got two reviews, you guys can do better. Six hundred views so far, so can I get five more reviews by Chapter three (I'll post it on Saturday)? Please?**

**Chapter 2: Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death**

**Hazel POV**

Hazel's reading was much slower than Annabeth's. Must be the whole daughter of Athena thing. Or the fact she had been dead a few months ago. One or the other.

"**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly.**"

"Quickly?" Annabeth said in disbelief. "Seaweed Brain, your whole life is a weird experience."

Percy snorted in response.

"**This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me.**"

"You thought the _entire campus _was playing a trick on you?" Jason said incredulously.

"Do you prefer my magic-mushroom theory?" Percy said. Jason rolled his eyes.

"**The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip-had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**"

"You _are _psycho." Frank said pointedly.

"It wasn't as bad then." Percy replied, grinning.

"**It got so I almost believed them-Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**"

"Ten drachma says it's Grover." Annabeth said, smirking.

"Uh, I'm not going to bet against you on that," Piper said.

"**But Grover couldn't fool me.**"

"Knew it!" Annabeth cried happily.

"**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**"

"He is a terrible liar…" Leo said. "Hey Jason, remember that time he tried to trick you into thinking I was trying to set you on fire? You _actually _fell for one of Grover's lies!" Jason stuck his tongue out at him.

"**Something was going on. Something **_**had**_ **happened at the museum.**"

"Yea," Hazel grumbled. "Percy's 'magical mushrooms' happened." Everyone laughed.

"**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**"

"You have the worst luck with dreams, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said, looking into his sea green eyes.

"I wish I could say that isn't true, Wise Girl…" Percy said, grimacing.

"**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**"

"Man what's got Zeus and Poseidon's undies in a knot?" Leo said.

"You'll see…" Percy said, smiling mysteriously.

"**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**"

"Does Poseidon's mood affect yours?" Piper asked Percy.

"I guess?" Percy said, "Still not sure, though."

"**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**"

"It means '_old drunkard_' Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said, slapping his stomach.

"Oh." Percy replied, which got them all laughing.

"**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**"

"You had an obnoxious stepfather?" Hazel said, cocking her head to one side.

"You better believe it." Percy said nodding slowly, a grimace etched across his face.

"**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance,**"

_Of course he'd love that_, Hazel thought to herself, smiling.

"**The smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

**I'd miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**"

"That's good!" Leo grinned. "See, he can be smart!" Percy made a mad face at him and then nodded at Hazel to continue.

"**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the **_**Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology**_ **across my dorm room.**"

Annabeth's eyes widened. "You-threw-_what_-across the room?" She said sternly, turning her intimidating gray eyes to his.

"Umm… Nothing?" Percy said, smiling at her and giving her his baby seal eyes.

"That's what I thought." Annabeth growled.

"**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**"

"Just look at you now!" Piper said, smiling. Percy grinned.

"**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. **_**I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**_

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**"

"Good." Annabeth said, elbowing Percy in the arm.

"Ow!" He said. "What was that for?"

"Throwing a book." Annabeth said in response, grinning.

"**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."**"

"Ohhh… Grover…" Piper muttered to herself.

"**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper,**"

"Is that what you told the Stolls after you eavesdropped on them and told me about the rubber spider they were putting in my bed?" Annabeth said, eyeing Percy.

"...Maybe…" Was all he said in reply.

"**But I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the **_**school**_**! Now that we know for sure, and **_**they**_ **know too-"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**"

Frank snorted. "He hasn't matured at all by the sound of it." Everyone laughed, except Percy who gave Frank the evil eye.

"**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline-"**"

"Summer solstice deadline?" Jason said.

"Shhh!" Annabeth said.

"**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**"

"You're _still _ignorant Percy." Hazel said. "Have you changed at all since you were twelve?"

"Nah," Percy said, "I was as good looking then as I am now." He grinned, until Annabeth elbowed him again.

"**"Sir, he **_**saw **_**her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**"

"Thalia would gut you for saying that…" Annabeth mumbled.

"**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-"**"

"There it is!" Leo said, clapping. Everyone glared at him.

"**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**"

"Why was he not in his wheelchair?" Annabeth screeched. "He could have been fo-" She was cut off abruptly by Percy putting his hand over her mouth and saying,

"Mist, Wise Girl, Mist." Annabeth quieted down after he reminded her.

"**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**"

"Tell me you went in the girl's bathroom." Leo grinned.

"That comes later," Percy said with a smirk. Annabeth smiled, apparently she was there for that.

"**A few seconds later I heard a slow **_**clop-clop-clop**_**, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**"

"Mr. Brunner…" Hazel said, thinking. "Is he a Centaur?"

"Maybe…" Annabeth said dubiously.

"**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**"

"You sweat there a lot." Annabeth said.

"Thank you, Annabeth, for that inspiring information." Leo said dryly.

"**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**"

"What happened on the winter solstice?" Piper said curiously.

"Yeah, can we get some background information here?" Jason added.

"I'll explain later," Percy said.

"**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

**"Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**"

"So…" Frank said, "About three minutes then."

"Yep." Percy agreed, and everyone snickered a second.

"**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**"

"Of course!" Leo said in what Hazel expected was his Percy imitation. "I just went down for some help on my Latin exam and found out my best friend is talking about me with my not-so-wheelchair-bound teacher! Yeah, everything's fine!"

Everyone laughed, until Hazel shushed them and continued.

"**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**"

"They can read your emotions, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said.

"I know that now…" Percy said, rolling his eyes.

"**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**"

"Torture!" Leo exclaimed.

"**My eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**"

Everyone went quiet. Annabeth's eyes went wide.

"**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**"

"Oh, you wouldn't take that well…" Annabeth murmured, frowning sympathetically.

"**My eyes stung.**

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**"

All of the demigods were frowning in sympathy for Percy.

"**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-"**"

"Chiron never was good at uplifting speeches…" Piper said sympathetically.

"**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.**

**"Percy-"**

**But I was already gone.**"

Annabeth was snuggling farther into Percy's chest.

"Aww Percy you know he didn't mean it that way…" Piper said, apparently talking to the book.

"That was uplifting," Leo said, trying to get book-Percy to smile (What was wrong with those two?)

"**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**"

"Nice of him to include you!" Hazel said happily.

"**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**"

"Nice of him to say it was cool…" Frank said.

"**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**"

"Okay then." Hazel said grumpily.

"**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**"

"Real subtle. Grover." Annabeth grumbled.

"**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**"

"Percy!" Annabeth shouted, making Percy almost jump out of the seat even with Annabeth on his lap.

"What?" He said, wild-eyed.

"Why would you say that in public?!" She scolded.

"It's not like I knew what they were!"

Annabeth relented, mumbling, "Didn't know what they were, pfft. Doesn't mean you say something like that in front of people. There could be monsters!"

"**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?"**"

"Not much, eh?" Jason said.

"**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."**

**"Grover-"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**"

"We all know it's true, Grover." Leo said.

"**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

**Grover Underwood**

**Keeper**

**Half-Blood Hill**

**Long Island, New York**

**(800) 009-0009**

**"What's Half-"**"

"Percy! Stop saying these things aloud in public!"

"Hey, I didn't know, Wise Girl!"

"**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**"

"Aw, Seaweed Brain. It's called a Half-Blood _Hill_, of _course _it's not a summer _home_!" Annabeth said, frowning.

"**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**"

"I wish it was a mansion," Leo grumbled quietly.

"**He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**"

"_Percy_…" Hazel said quietly, but forcefully.

Percy winced and said, "I know, I know. I was sorry."

"**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended **_**me**_**.**"

"You protected him from bullies?" Annabeth said, looking up at Percy.

He nodded. "Grover was my best friend. What else could I do?"

"You got in fights and lost sleep worrying about him?" Piper said.

"Course. My fatal flaw _is _loyalty to my friends."

"**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**"

"I could use some fruit right about now…" Leo said wistfully, staring at the fake fruit basket on the coffee table.

_POP! _And all of a sudden a giant basket of cherries, apples, peaches, and other fruity yums appeared on the table where the fakes had been.

"Oooh!" Piper said gleefully, diving for an apple just as Frank bit into a peach and it was so juicy it squirted all over him.

"Eeew!" Frank whined, but kept eating.

"**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**"

There was a sharp intake of breath from Annabeth, who was now whispering with Percy and gripping his arm tightly.

"**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**"

Jason's eyes widened in recognition of who the ladies were, though Hazel still wasn't sure.

"**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair**

**tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**"

At this, I realized who it was. Apparently Frank did too, because his jaw dropped.

"**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**"

I saw Piper mouth something that looked like, "crepes" and Leo nod in agreement.

"**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man-"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**"

Annabeth slapped his arm and scolded him for being so annoying in a serious situation. Hazel assumed it was because of the book.

"**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**"

Annabeth nodded in agreement with Grover.

"**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**"

There was a sharp intake of breath from everyone in the room, except Percy.

"**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**"

Leo rolled his eyes. Hazel guessed he like the heat.

"**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.**"

Annabeth was pushing as far back into Percy as possible and he tightened his arms around her, as if she needed some comfort that he was still alive and with her. Jason was staring at Percy, and Leo's mouth was hanging open.

"Close your mouth Leo," Piper said, "Before you catch a fly."

Leo shut his mouth but continued staring at him. Frank and Hazel just looked on sadly.

"**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla.**"

Hazel heard a slap, and assumed it was Annabeth hitting Percy for his badly-timed humor.

"**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**"

"That's not a good sign," Frank said, stating the obvious.

"**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost-older.**"

Hazel saw Annabeth and Jason doing the same thing as she said it. Warding off the evil.

"**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**"

"Oh Grover…" Annabeth said mournfully. "Thalia and I don't blame you for what happened! Neither did Luke!" Percy tensed up strangely at the mention of 'Luke' but the tension left him quickly.

"**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**"

"Nice Grover. Good tactic." Leo said sarcastically. "Scare the demigod and see where that gets ya."

"**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**"

"You didn't let him walk you home, did you?!" Annabeth said, frowning at Percy.

Percy just shrugged.

"**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover-that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**"

Jason face-palmed as Frank banged his head on the table once.

"**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**"

"Which is seaweed, by the way." Percy said.

"Not really a flower, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said, rolling her eyes.

"Fine. Kelp." Percy said, sticking his chin out.

"Kelp Head." Annabeth said.

"That's Thalia's nickname for me!" Percy said, smiling. Annabeth rolled her eyes again.

"Anyway, on that happy note, I better go." Percy said, getting out from under Annabeth.

"Go where?" Piper said curiously.

"Uhh… Lady Hestia asked to see me…?" Percy said hesitantly.

Annabeth saw right through him. "What's the next chapter about?"

"My charming stepfather." He said, backing away. "I'll be back for chapter four."

"Oh, no!" Annabeth said, running up to him and grabbing his arm. "You are staying right where I can see you." Percy groaned and let himself be dragged back to the chair by Annabeth.

"Who's reading next?" The daughter of Athena demanded.

"I will," Piper said, reaching for the book excitedly.

**~Yours truly**

**Jypsi**


	4. Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters or the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series. They belong to Rick Riordan.**

**SPOILER ALERT**

**(I apologize in advance for any misspellings, grammar errors, or capitalization errors.)**

**Thank you guys for getting five reviews! I'm going to set another goal now, just because I'm evil. Can I get twenty? I know, big jump from last time, but I got ten when I asked for five so we can do this! (By Monday, when I'll be posting again) Thanks again!  
**

**Chapter 3: Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants**

**Piper POV**

"**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**"

"That didn't last long," Leo said, stifling a laugh.

"**I know, I know. It was rude.**"

"Very," Annabeth said, elbowing Percy again.

"**But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"**

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**"

"So," Frank said, "that explains why you weren't outside the bath house where I told you to wait."

"What? Wait for you to shower?" Percy said incredulously. "Would've wasted five minutes!"

"**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**"

"Now I can stalk you." Leo said, an evil gleam in his eyes. Percy gave him a look that said _Come anywhere close to my home and I will run you through with my sword. _Leo looked away.

"**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**"

Aww, Piper thought to herself. He really loves his mom.

"**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**"

"Oh my." Hazel said.

"**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**"

At this Annabeth smiled up at Percy.

"**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.**"

"They never do…" Jason muttered.

"**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**"

"I _wonder _you your daddy could be…" Leo said, and was obviously testing Percy's patience by the way the son of Poseidon reached for his pocket (Does he have a weapon in there?).

"**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**"

"You're _still _not easy, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth mumbled fondly.

"**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**"

"How do you know what that smells like?" Jason said, wrinkling his nose.

"Have you been in a boys locker room?" Percy said pointedly.

"**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**"

"Eew." Hazel grumbled in disgust.

"**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

**That was it. No** _**Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**_"

Everyone had a look of dislike crossing their face, except Percy. He was grinning with evil malice.

"**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him**

**handsome or something.**"

"Sounds like Ma Gasket's boys." Piper said. Leo and Jason laughed, and Annabeth joined in when she remembered who the lady cyclopes was.

Percy, Frank, Hazel just frowned, and Frank mumbled something about "Rainbow Ding Dongs." Percy said something about "Evil grains…" And Hazel simply said "Schist."

"**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**"

Annabeth looked like she wanted to strangle the guy. In fact, she was clenching and un-clenching her fists, until Percy rested his hand on her arm.

"**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**"

"You did know!" Annabeth said in delight.

"Actually no." Percy said. "Grover told me later." Apparently they were talking about something to do with Gabe's smell.

"**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**"

"He seems nice." Hazel said.

"**"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**"

"They don't." Hazel said in dislike.

"**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**"

"Oh, as if that buffoon ever got above an F in his life!" Piper said, wrinkling her nose in disgust, the others nodding along with her.

"**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**"

Annabeth frowned in disgust.

"**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic-how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone-something-was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**"

All of the girls in the room smiled, the boys just sat there, waiting for more.

"**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and**

**change color in the light.**"

"Like Beauty Queen's!" Leo said happily.

"Don't test it, Repair Boy." Piper growled.

"**Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**"

"I was still taller," Annabeth said, smirking. Percy made a mean face at her. She rolled her eyes.

"**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the**

**world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?**"

Piper was secretly jealous of Percy's mom. She had a wonderful dad, sure, but he was never home. He was always busy, off being a movie-star in Hollywood or a model in NYC.

"**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally-how about some bean dip, huh?"**

**I gritted my teeth.**"

Annabeth gritted hers in unison with book Percy.

"**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**"

"I'll say!" Leo blurted. "Uh… Sorry. Continue on." Everyone stared at him.

"**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**"

"Really?" Jason said, wide-eyed with surprise.

"**Until that trip to the museum ...**

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**

**"No, Mom."**

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**"

"_Percy_." Annabeth scolded. "You should have told her!"

"I didn't know that then!" He complained.

"**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**"

Oh, Piper thought, he would love the beach.

"**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

**"Three nights-same cabin."**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**"

Frank made a growling noise in his throat, and Annabeth looked murderous.

"**I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**"

Annabeth scowled, and Leo threw Percy a knowing look.

"**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your stepfather is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**"

"_He_ is cruel." Piper muttered, and knew there was a very mean look on her face.

"**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**"

Annabeth's eyes seemed to blaze with fury at this. Leo's nose actually caught fire, and just before he put it out Percy's eyes widened in surprise and Hazel and Frank both shrank back as if they were scared.

"**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**"

Piper barely managed to choke down her laughter as she read, and then all seven of them were laughing.

"**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**"

"You know why," Annabeth said, nudging Percy.

"I didn't then." He grumbled.

"**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**"

"You have sarcasm in _every _statement, Percy." Hazel said.

"I do not!" Percy protested.

"_Great_," Hazel said, in what Piper guessed was her Percy imitation. "_I always wanted to be glue._" Percy rolled his eyes.

"_I could eat Prancer and Blitzen, too. I'm hungry._" Frank said in his Percy-voice. Percy rolled his eyes again.

"Why were you eating Prancer and Blitzen?" Leo said curiously.

"Why were you turning into glue?" Jason said incredulously.

"Long story."

"**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes-the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride-as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**"

"Dang!" Leo said. "I was hoping she would reject him!"

"**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking-and more important, his '78 Camaro-for the whole weekend.**

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**"

"As if you're driving!" Piper said, rolling her eyes.

"**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**"

Leo nodded sympathetically.

"**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from a cannon. Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**"

Everyone burst out laughing, Leo even fell off the couch he was laughing so loudly.

"**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**"

"I've always wanted to do that!" Leo said, grinning.

"I thought about it when we were running from Grandma Zhang's house…" Hazel said. "Remember the Canadians we were running from? And how Frank shot potatoes at them!"

Percy, Frank and Hazel laughed at the memory. "That was my first plane ride!" Percy said delightedly.

"You rode in a plane?" Annabeth shouted. "Seaweed Brain! Zeus could have fried you!"

Percy shrank back from Annabeth. The rest of them just stared at Hazel, Frank, and Percy like they were crazy.

"**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

**I loved the place.**"

"Crazy," Jason muttered.

"**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**"

"Aww that's so sweet!" Piper said.

"You're sounding like your mama, Beauty Queen." Leo said. Piper glared at him.

"**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**"

"What's with the blue food?" Jason asked.

"**I guess I should explain the blue food.**"

"Yep." Hazel said, laughing at Jason who was now blushing a bright red.

"**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This-along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano-was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**"

"Percy you have a _non-_rebellious streak." Annabeth said, smiling.

"**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk-my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"**

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me ...**

**I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**"

"Oh, Percy." Piper whispered to the book. "He couldn't come see you!"

"**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**

**"Because you don't want me around?"**"

"_Percy_." Annabeth said. It was the first time Piper had heard her call him Percy all day.

"**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I-I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said-that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are.**"

Hazel, Frank, and Annabeth all smiled.

**I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

**"Safe from what?"**

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me-all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

**Before that-a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**"

"Like Hercules!" Leo said happily.

"**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**"

"It may have ended your trip but it would've saved us from having to go to-" Annabeth was cut off by Percy throwing his hand over her mouth.

"Shh Wise Girl! Spoiler!"

"**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy-the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**"

"Camp Half-Blood?" Jason asked. Percy nodded.

"**My head was spinning. Why would my dad-who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born-talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I-I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**"

Piper was becoming even more jealous. Percy and his mother obviously loved each other, and people couldn't even tell that Piper _had _a dad.

"**That night I had a vivid dream.**"

"Oh, yours are the worst!" Annabeth said sadly.

"**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, **_**No!**_"

"Why are Zeus and Poseidon mad at each other?" Jason said.

"You'll see." Annabeth and Percy said simultaneously.

"**I woke with a start.**

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**"

"Oh, mad daddy." Leo muttered.

"**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice-someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**"

Piper, Leo, and the rest of the Camp Half-Blood campers laughed aloud.

"**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

**My mother looked at me in terror-not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

_**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!"**_ **he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"**"

"Percy!" Annabeth shouted at the book or real Percy, Piper wasn't sure. Percy wasn't sure either, he just gave Annabeth a strange look.

"**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on-and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...**

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"**

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. **_**Go!**_**"**

**Grover ran for the Camaro-but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**"

Realization dawned on Hazel and Frank's faces. "Faun…" The both whispered.

"**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**"

Everyone was silent for a question, until Leo said "I call reading next!"

Everyone rolled their eyes as Piper reluctantly passed the book to her Repair Boy.

**~Yours truly**

**Jypsi**


	5. My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters or the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series. They belong to Rick Riordan.**

**SPOILER ALERT**

**(I apologize in advance for any misspellings, grammar errors, or capitalization errors.)**

**Okay guys. I have terrible news. Y'all are crazy!**

**I asked for 5 reviews the first time, and easily got eleven within the first day it was up. Then I had just over 1,000 views. I now have 2,500+ views and exactly 22 reviews. Nine more then last time. What is wrong with you all? Please, Please, Please. This time I am just going to ask for 11 reviews to complete the twenty. Please. Even if you're logged in, you can post as a guest. I **_**love **_**getting reviews even if I've no clue who you are.**

**In response to some questions I got:**

**Cornyflower: Is it bad that I heard this voice shouting at me... And the person shouting at me (in my imagination) looked like a Corn Pop? XD**

**DoctorWhoGirl14: Thank you so much, and I have been thinking about having them do so.**

**To everyone else who's reviewed: Thanks for all your support :) it's what keeps me writing.**

**To everyone who hasn't reviewed: Seriously -_- review. I love them. They are my writing caffeine.**

**Chapter 4: My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting**

**Leo POV**

"**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**"

"Ooooh…" Leo said. "Bad-ass mama!"

"Leo!" Piper scolded at his language.

Leo laughed and continued reading.

"**Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.**"

Annabeth laughed before saying, "Shag-carpet? I'm telling Grover this!"

There was a golden flash and suddenly a satyr, Grover appeared standing on top of a few squished fruits.

"Grover?" Percy said, smiling.

"Percy!" Grover said, jumping down and make hoof prints of fruit juice all the way over to Percy."

"You're… Grover?" Hazel said, and Frank peered at the satyr in a friendly manner.

"Yep!" Grover said, grinning.

"We were just talking about you! Percy said you have shag-carpet pants!" Annabeth said gleefully.

"What the heck dude?" Grover said, eyeing Percy. "What am I doing here?"

"We're reading "**Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief**"" Piper said, smiling.

"On our way to camp." Jason said.

Leo continued then, interrupting the awkward silence that had ensued.

"**But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo- lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**"

"Blaa-ha-ha!" Grover bleated irritably.

"**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"**

**Graver's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**"

"Stalker." Percy said, grinning when Grover playfully punched his arm.

"**"Watching me?"**

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."**"

"Still are," Annabeth said, laughing as the two had a playful fist fight.

"**"Um ... what are you, exactly?"**

**"That doesn't matter right now."**

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey-"**"

Everyone busted out in laughter. Grover said, "I still remember that!"

"**Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!"**

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**"

"Bet you heard the irritated beat a lot, Percy," Frank said, smirking at Percy who rolled his eyes.

"**"Goat!" he cried.**

**"What?"**

**"I'm a goat from the waist down."**

**"You just said it didn't matter."**

**"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"**"

"I'm still thinking about it." Grover muttered.

"**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

**"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**"

"You couldn't see through the Mist even after Mrs. Dodds?" Jason said, eyebrows raised.

"He wasn't an extremely intelligent twelve-year old." Annabeth muttered as she slapped Percy for sticking his tongue out at Grover.

"Still not apparently." Leo said, laughing to himself.

"**"Of course."**

**"Then why-"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**"

"I'm still not positive about who I am…" Percy said.

"You're Percy." Hazel said.

"Well, I know that-"

"You just said you didn't."

"I know but-"

"Seaweed Brain, you didn't know who you were a few months ago. Shut up." Annabeth said.

"**"Who I-wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**"

"Is this the M-" Annabeth was cut off abruptly by Percy and Grover shouting, "Spoiler!"

"**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**"

"Grover!" Annabeth scolded.

"**"Grover!"**

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**"

"I thought she was already going as fast as possible?" Piper said.

"Nah. Then it was only eighty. She had to push it to ninety." Grover said, resulting in everyone's laughter.

"**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**"

"Your imagination _is _terrible." Frank said.

"**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**"

"As if we let anyone pick their own!" Leo said, laughing.

"**"Where are we going?" I asked.**

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**"

"Camp Half-Blood!" Piper said happily.

"**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn."**"

"Old ladies!" Annabeth chortled. "You don't know the half of it!"

"**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means-the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."**

**"Whoa. You said 'you.'"**

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**

**"You meant 'you.' As in me."**

**"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you."**

**"Boys!" my mom said.**"

"You two are idiots." Annabeth said.

"Why, thank you." Grover replied, while Percy said, "Still are."

"**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid-a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**"

"A Fu-" At Annabeth's glare Jason stopped. "A Kindly-One?"

"Yep." Percy said, nodding.

"**"What was that?" I asked.**

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

**I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**

**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness-the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.**"

"Are you sure she didn't want to play tag?" Leo said.

"Yes, Leo." Percy said sarcastically. "Because that's how everyone plays tag. They grow leathery wings and razor sharp talons. That way there are never tag-backs." Everyone laughed.

"**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded.**

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**"

"You know the feeling?" Jason said incredulously.

"Third grade was a strange year for me." Was Percy's only response.

"**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**

**"Percy!" my mom shouted.**

**"I'm okay... ."**

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

**Lightning. That was the only explanation.**"

"Why does Jupiter hate you so much?" Hazel said.

"**We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**"

"Even if he's half barnyard animal, eh?" Said a voice that Leo had heard only once or twice before. He looked up to see a girl with short black hair holding a silver bow standing in the middle of the room.

"Pinecone Face!" Percy said gleefully, running to the huntress to give her a hug.

"Hey, Kelp Head." Thalia said, hugging him back. "Yo, Wise Girl!" She shouted at Annabeth, who rolled her eyes and stood up to give the daughter of Zeus a hug.

"Uhh…" Said a very confused Frank. "Who are you?"

Thalia looked at Frank and Hazel curiously. "I'm Thalia. Lieutenant of Artemis and daughter of Zeus."

"We've heard lots about you from Percy!" Hazel said, smiling at her. Thalia looked at Percy with a look that said _You had better explain yourself later_. Percy wisely shrank back from her. "I'm Hazel, daughter of Pluto, and this is Frank, son of Mars." Hazel said.

"Thals, we're here reading about Percy's adventures in his first year as a demigod."

"Oh, so when he was still an idiot." At Percy's glare she added, "Of course, he still is one, so not much has changed."

Percy rolled his eyes and gestured for Leo to continue reading.

"**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**"

Everyone began laughing, and it didn't help that Grover was reaching for an apple as Leo had said it.

"**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.**

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

**I swallowed hard. "Who is-"**"

"Is that-" Thalia was cut off by Percy mouthing _No spoilers _at her. She nodded in understanding.

"**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy-you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**"

"What?" Thalia said. "Just 'that tree'? Not even 'that tree that is actually a human?'" Hazel and Frank gave her confused looks, but Annabeth waved Leo on.

"**"What?"**

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**"

"I was pretty fancy, wasn't I." Thalia said, grinning.

"**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**

**"Mom, you're coming too."**

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**"

"Awww," Piper said.

"Beauty Queen, your mother is getting the best of you." Leo said, avoiding looking into Piper's glare.

"**"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands-huge meaty hands-were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns …**"

Leo saw Jason mouth something like Pine-o-car, and Hazel and Frank nodding at him.

"**"He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

**"But..."**

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**

**I got mad, then-mad at my mother, at Grover the goat, at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**"

The myth formed then in Leo's head, a giant bull-man, Pasiphae's son.

"**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

**"I told you-"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**"

"He still doesn't let us cut it." Annabeth grumbled.

"**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine-bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin.**"

"Other 'ceps?" Piper said. "Really?" Percy shrugged.

"**He wore no clothes except underwear-I mean,bright white Fruit of the Looms**-"

At this Leo couldn't help himself. "Fruit of the Looms?" He said, choking on laughter. "That's my favorite brand!" Everyone busted up with giggles.

"**Which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**

**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns-enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric**

**sharpener.**"

Thalia rolled her eyes while Grover nodded in agreement. Annabeth just slapped Percy's stomach.

"**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.**

**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's-"**

**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."**

**"But he's the Min-"**"

"Don't say his name!" Annabeth scolded the book.

"**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."**

**The pine tree was still way too far-a hundred yards uphill at least.**"

"Always the optimist." Thalia said, grinning.

"**I glanced behind me again.**

**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows-or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.**"

"You weren't very intelligent then either, were you." Frank said, eyeing Percy mischievously.

"**"Food?" Grover moaned.**

**"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**

**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."**

**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**"

"Oooh… Ahhh…" Leo said, pretending to be amazed by something going by across the sky.

"**Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying.**

**Oops.**"

Everyone laughed as Annabeth elbowed him and said, "You are never serious!"

"**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way- directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"**

**"How do you know all this?"**

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was**

**selfish, keeping you near me."**"

"Your mother was smart," Jason said. "Did she research all of this?"

"I expect that my father told her some of the 'myths.'"

"**"Keeping me near you? But-"**

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**

**He'd smelled us.**

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**"

"Hey!" Grover shouted, elbowing Percy. Percy dodged, chuckling.

"**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.**

**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right-it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.**

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**

**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**"

"You did the intelligent thing?" Hazel said incredulously. Percy gave her what Leo expected was his Medusa-stare because Hazel shrank back into Frank.

"**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**

**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**"

"You are _such_ a ray of sunshine." Jason said, rolling his eyes. Percy grinned.

"**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**

**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**"

"Sally!" Annabeth screamed, before she recomposed herself, sitting up straighter and saying, "Proceed." Leo rolled his eyes.

"**"Mom!"**

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.**"

"Hades." Grover growled.

"**"No!"**

**Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs-the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**"

"We call that adrenaline, Now, Kelp Head." Thalia said.

"**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**

**I couldn't allow that.**

**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**"

"As if that'll work." Leo said, snickering. Percy gave Leo what he expected was the _You are _so _completely wrong_ look.

"**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**

**I had an idea-a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**

**But it didn't happen like that.**"

"Nothing ever happens the way you want, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said.

"**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**

**Time slowed down.**

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**"

"Starting to love the ADHD, aren't you?" Piper said, grinning.

"**How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**"

"You know how that feels… How?" Jason said, raising his eyebrows. When Percy opened his mouth to reply Jason raised his hand and said, "Wait, let me guess. Second grade?" Percy nodded.

"**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**"

"And that's the boys locker room again?" Jason said, eyeing Percy.

"Of course." Percy said.

"**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**

**"Food!" Grover moaned.**"

"You like food." Hazel noted.

"**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then-snap!**"

"No way," Leo whispered.

"**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**"

"Yes way," Percy whispered.

"**The monster charged.**

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.**

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate-not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**"

"Pretty good description again," Piper said.

"**The monster was gone.**

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover-I wasn't going to let him go.**"

Annabeth was smiling sadly. Thalia just gave Percy a small smile. Leo shot him one for being a good friend.

"**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man**,"

"Brunner." Frank whispered.

"**And a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.**"

"PRINCESS CURLS?!" Annabeth shouted. Percy flinched in surprise, then smirked and nodded.

"**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."**"

"You thought everyone was the one, Annabeth," Grover muttered, earning himself a punch in the arm.

"**"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."**"

"Aww, and that's how they met." Leo said, smirking at the two. "One was half-conscious and the other looked like a princess because of the half-conscious one's consciousness." Annabeth gave him a murderous look but Percy just grinned and nodded.

"Who's reading next?" The daughter of Athena demanded.

"I think I would like to read the next chapter," Thalia said, snatching the book from Leo and grinning mischieviously.

**~Yours truly**

**Jypsi**


	6. I Play Pinochle With A Horse

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters or the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series. They belong to Rick Riordan.**

**SPOILER ALERT**

**(I apologize in advance for any misspellings, grammar errors, or capitalization errors.)**

**Thank you guys so much for being patient with this update :)**

**Let me just say: With the little questions in the Author's Note I posted yesterday, I got eleven reviews. I was amazed. I think I'm going to start asking some Question of the Every-Other-Days (QOTEOD).**

**So, the QOTEOD is: Who (after you've read this chapter) do you want me to add most? There are a few that I get a lot, but I am willing to include more minor characters. I can't promise they would be there the whole time but I will try to get all suggestions in at one point or another.**

**Also: Thanks for all the support :) I loved y'alls ideas for people to bring in, and I think I know which book I will do next (I decided I will do another).**

**Chapter 5: I Play Pinochle With A Horse**

**Thalia POV**

"**I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.**"

"Grover!" Annabeth said, elbowing the satyr playfully.

"**I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again.**"

"Only you could just 'pass out again' Kelp Head," Thalia said, rolling her eyes at her cousin.

"**I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.**"

"I do not smirk!" Annabeth yelled at her boyfriend.

"You were totally smirking!" Percy exclaimed in defense.

"Maybe smiling because of your habit of messy-eating!"

"I was unconscious while you spoon-fed me and you're calling me a messy eater?"

Annabeth made a pointed glare at his lap, where a napkin covered in peach juice lay. Percy scowled.

"**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"**"

"Always impatient," Thalia tsked, smiling at her friend.

"**I managed to croak, "What?"**

**She looked around, as if afraid someone would over-hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"**"

"Man, a guy wakes up and is immediately harassed," Leo said, shaking his head sadly.

"I know, right." Percy agreed. Annabeth punched his shoulder, causing Percy to wince.

"**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."**

**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.**"

"Smooth, Annabeth." Piper said, grinning.

"**The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.**

**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes-at least a dozen of them-on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.**"

"Argus?" Jason said. Annabeth nodded.

"**When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest.**"

"Pre-K?" Frank guessed.

"You bet," Percy said, grinning.

"**My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.**

**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.**"

"Man, nectar was fancy back then." Leo said. "Now it's just in a little paper Dixie cup."

"**My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.**

**"Careful," a familiar voice said.**

**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week. Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, not the goat boy.**"

"The goat boy?" Grover said indignantly. Percy shrugged.

"**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And …**"

Apparently the Mist works on him pretty well, Thalia thought to herself.

"**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."**

**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.**

**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**"

"Eww!" Hazel said, "Dried blood!" The others laughed at her remark before Thalia continued.

"**"The Minotaur," I said.**"

Annabeth looked absolutely enraged, like she was about to strangle Percy for saying things out loud… Again. Of course, Thalia might have helped her. Kelp Head was being awful stupid after all.

"**"Um, Percy, it isn't a good idea-"**

**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half**

**man, half bull."**"

"You said it twice?" Annabeth screeched, turning to face Percy.

"Uhh…" Percy said, looking into her intimidating gray eyes. "I was twelve?"

"Doesn't cut it, Seaweed Brain!" She shouted, smacking his head. He winced.

"**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"**

**"My mom. Is she really ..."**

**He looked down.**"

Piper frowned in remorse and Hazel smiled sadly. Frank, Leo and Jason just stared at the book, oblivious to emotions. Thalia knew what would happen, but apparently those five didn't.

"**I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.**"

"Why thank you," Thalia said, putting on a winning smile. Percy rolled his eyes.

"**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**"

"Aww," Piper said. Thalia was beginning to think that Aphrodite was really rubbing off on her daughter.

"**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm-I'm the worst satyr in the world."**

**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.**"

"That…" Leo said, "Must have been really surprising…"

"You don't know the half of it." Percy said, grimacing.

"**"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.**

**Thunder rolled across the clear sky.**"

"Grover!" Annabeth scolded.

"**As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.**

**Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head.**"

"Of course!" Grover said, apparently insulted by the coment. "Goats have horns, right?" Percy just gave Grover his _Bro, seriously? _look.

"**But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.**"

"I would think more golden," Annabeth whispered.

"**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe? No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.**"

Annabeth's eyes went wide at the sound of Percy in the army. Thalia knew hers did too. As much as she hated to admit it, she and Percy were great friends and might fight a lot, but would give their life to save each other without a second thought. She wouldn't be able to bear him going to war and not coming back.

"**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid-poor goat, satyr, whatever-looked as if he expected to be hit.**"

"Whatever?" Grover cried, insulted. Percy shrugged again.

"**I said, "It wasn't your fault."**

**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you."**

**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"**

**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."**"

"And you were the best one!" Thalia cried, giving Grover her _You better not still blame yourself for that _look.

"**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.**

**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.**

**I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies. And not just any cookies-my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.**"

Thalia was fairly sure that Piper had just awwed from her seat. Hazel was smiling, and Annabeth was snuggling into Percy's chest. _Pfft, lovebirds._

"**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**

**"Was it good?" Grover asked.**"

"Course it was good!" Jason said. "It's nectar!" Grover gave him a look that said _Dude, chill_.

"**I nodded.**

**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.**

**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."**"

"Seaweed Brain, it wouldn't taste the same to him." Annabeth said playfully.

"So?" Percy said.

"He might've burned up, Kelp Head." Thalia said.

"**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."**

**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Home-made."**

**He sighed. "And how do you feel?"**

**"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."**"

Everyone looked at Percy like, _Really?_

"**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"**

**"What do you mean?"**

**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."**"

Percy scowled at Mr. D. Apparently he still didn't like the old god.

"**The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse. My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.**"

"Still got it, too!" Percy said, grinning and pulling out, sure enough, the black-and-white Minotaur's horn.

Annabeth stared at him for a second before saying, "Seriously?"

"Wait, what?" Frank said, coming to his senses.

"Why do you have that?" Leo asked warily.

"Backup. In case I lose Riptide," Percy said, pulling out his ballpoint pen.

"In case you lose… your pen?" Jason said in disbelief.

"Oh, right. You guys haven't met Anaklusmos." Thalia frowned at the name, remembering the former Lieutenant of Artemis, Zoe. When Percy uncapped his sword and Riptide sprung out, Leo immediately jumped up.

"Can I get some blueprints for this baby?!" He said excitedly.

Percy glanced nervously at Thalia, before saying, "It's one of a kind… Was made by a uh… Very special friend."

"Cool!" Leo said. "Can I meet them?"

Percy pointed up at the ceiling, which had been styled to reflect the night sky. "That constellation." He said sadly. "The Huntress." Annabeth looked at it with remorse, but Thalia tried to put on her brave face.

Leo smiled and said "Hi, Huntress." Before waving up at the ceiling and giving them a grin to cheer them up.

"**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath. We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture-an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena-except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun.**"

"You don't catch on very quickly, do you?" Hazel said, eyeing Percy.

"**In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.**"

"Your brothers!" Grover said, grinning at Percy who paled at the thought.

"**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.**"

"Annabeth!" Piper said, grinning. Annabeth nodded.

"**The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels-what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit**

**right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my step-father.**"

Everyone laughed at the description.

"**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron... ."**"

"I think I was there longer." Thalia grumbled.

"No, no, no." Annabeth said, "Your tree still being there doesn't mean you are. I've been longer."

"I was there while you and Percy went on all those quests!"

"You were there for two of those quests."

"So? For the third quest Percy and I were rescuing you! And I had to go back to camp to end up going!"

"Spoilers…" Percy muttered.

"Wise Girl! I've been there longer!"

"No way!"

Thunder boomed overhead and the room darkened. Electricity crackled. Thalia felt herself tingling as she shot a bolt of lightning down at Annabeth…

...Just to be intercepted by a wave of water from Kelp Head.

"Hang on there, Pinecone Face." Percy said, keeping the wall of water between Wise Girl and the sky. Annabeth's eyes were wide as she stared at the showdown between the two cousins.

"Outta the way, Kelp Head." Thalia growled.

"Thalia." Jason said behind her. "Calm down, it's fine." Thalia made a snarling sound in the back of her throat, but sat down in her chair. Percy sat back down with Annabeth, giving Thalia a wary look.

What did I do? Thalia thought to herself. Artemis had warned her that her fatal flaw, power, might get in the way like this sometimes. She would have to be more careful.

"**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me. First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.**

**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.**

**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.**"

"That's just cruel!" Leo said.

"**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**

**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."**"

"He's still just as warm and fuzzy," Piper muttered.

"**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**"

"For once… You're right." Annabeth said incredulously.

"**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl. She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."**"

"Huh, you seemed more friendly then, Annabeth." Leo said, nodding thoughtfully. She glared at him.

"**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."**

**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image.**"

"Excuse me?" Annabeth cried indignantly.

"**They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**"

"She probably was," Thalia said laughing.

"**She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, You killed a minotaur! or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that.**"

"Prideful much?" Hazel said jokingly.

"Hey!" Percy protested.

"**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**"

"Annabeth is known for wonderful first impressions." Percy said. "For instance, telling you that you drool."

"Or giving you that _Give me Percy Jackson or I'll kill you _look, and then asking where Percy is because you're missing a shoe."

"Or falling out of a golden chute and screaming at you to tell you who you are."

"Or jumping out of a trash can swinging a knife at you."

"Or running from a cyclopes and screaming, "MOVE!""

Annabeth was blushing. "Hehe…" She said, grinning.

"**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**

**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**

**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."**

**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"**"

"Did he incinerate you for asking that?" Jason said.

"Almost."

"**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."**"

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Annabeth said. Percy rolled his eyes.

"**"Oh. Right. Sorry."**

**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."**"

"He's glad to see you still alive, I'm sure." Grover mumbled.

"**"House call?"**

**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."**"

"I remember when he left…" Annabeth said. "He actually drove the teacher insane so that he had to leave." Everyone's eyes widened at this.

"**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy.**"

"You weren't very bright then, either, huh?" Thalia said, grinning at Percy.

"**Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.**"

"You're just a genius." Leo said.

"**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.**"

"Noo, he came to Yancy to teach Nancy." Piper said. "Whoa! I'm a poet and I didn't know it!"

"**Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."**"

"Yurp." Hazel said.

"Hazel, what was that noise?" Frank said jokingly.

Hazel blushed and said, "I accidentally hiccuped while saying yep." She hiccuped again until a glass of water appeared and she quickly fixed the issue.

"**"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"**

**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.**"

Everyone that had been to Camp Half-Blood laughed.

"Not… Afraid?" Leo said, choking on his giggles.

"**"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.**

**"I'm afraid not," I said.**

**"I'm afraid not, sir," he said.**

**"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.**"

"I didn't think you could like him that much more." Annabeth mumbled.

"**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules."**

**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.**"

"I still can't play." Percy noted, and Thalia saw Leo trying to contain his laughter.

"**"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron-why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"**

**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."**"

"We all did." Annabeth muttered. Percy glared at her.

"**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.**"

"Wow Grover, you satyrs really are terrified of Dio-Mr.D." Jason said.

"**Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student. He expected me**

**to have the right answer.**"

"I expect it too." Annabeth muttered. Percy grinned.

"**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'**

**"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."**"

"How sweet." Hazel murmured. Thalia was getting ready to puke at Piper and Hazel's softy-ness.

"**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"**

**"What?" I asked.**

**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.**"

"Gambling at a young age," Leo said. "Tsk, tsk."

"**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."**

**"Orientation film?" I asked.**"

"I remember that film. It was where I learned about Chiron and all the satyrs. Where I learned that the stuff from mythomagic was real." Thalia turned to see a pale, dark haired boy standing behind her.

"Death Breath!" She said, grinning at Nico's frown. For some reason he didn't like his nickname. Who would've guessed.

"Hey cuz!" Percy said, smiling from ear to ear at the son of Hades.

"Nico?" Hazel said.

"Yep." Nico glanced at Piper and Leo. "And you two are…?"

"Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, and Leo, son of Hephaestus." Piper said, smiling.

"Ah. I've heard about you two. I'm Nico, son of Hades."

"We've heard about you too." Leo said.

"Well I'm going to continue," Thalia said. "Mr. D hasn't turned Kelp Head into a dolphin yet so I need to keep going."

"What?" Jason said. Thalia grinned at him.

"**"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know" -he pointed to the horn in the shoe box- "that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods-the forces you call the Greek gods-are very much alive."**

**I stared at the others around the table. I waited for somebody to yell, Not! But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.**"

Everyone erupted in laughter, even Nico, who Thalia didn't see laugh very often.

"**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"**

**"Eh? Oh, all right."**

**Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.**"

"I chew mournfully?" Grover asked, bewildered.

"Percy can use big words like mournfully?" Thalia said, feigning shock.

"**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."**

**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God-capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."**"

"Seaweed Brain. He said gods, not God." Annabeth mumbled.

"**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-"**

**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."**

**"Smaller?"**"

"I don't think my father would take kindly to being called small in his Greek or Roman form." Frank muttered, grimacing.

"**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."**

**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."**"

"When will you learn?" Annabeth said, rolling her eyes.

"**And there it was again-distant thunder on a cloud-less day.**

**"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."**"

"Especially around one that you just ignored." Leo said.

"**"But they're stories," I said. "They're-myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."**"

Everyone laughed. "Science?" Piper said, tears of laughter streaming down her face.

"As if… You can predict… Zeus' emotion…" Annabeth said, gasping for air between laughs. Percy was rolling his eyes at them all.

"**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"-I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody-"what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals-they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."**"

This didn't help the laughter. Leo was on the ground rolling around, guffawing. Jason had his head in between his knees and he was sucking in air between laughs. Thalia was gasping between giggles.

"**I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't. It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.**"

"You're so dutiful, Grover." Piper said.

"**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"**

**I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.**"

"Good. Common sense. Something you need." Annabeth said, smirking at her boyfriend's frown.

"**"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.**

**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"**"

The last of everyone's laughter stopped abruptly.

"_Chiron_." Annabeth whispered, and her voice sounded strained, like she was trying to keep from crying herself. Thalia knew that she and Percy's mother had been becoming close after Percy disappeared but she didn't realize that this was still hard on her.

"**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."**

**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."**"

"I'll say." Leo said, trying to lighten the mood.

"**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."**

**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'"**

**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine. My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.**

**"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."**

**Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.**

**"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!" More thunder.**"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, mumbling something that sounded like "Habits, ha. More like trying to get away with something you're not supposed to be doing." That rule follower.

"**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.**

**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."**

**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.**"

"Might've been." Nico said. Thalia jumped, she had forgotten that Death Breath was there.

"**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time-well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away-the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."**"

"Instead of?" Jason said, incredulous.

"He tried to turn me into an Atlantic Bottlenose, and he's supposed to be a good influence?" Percy muttered.

"**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.**

**"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."**

**"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."**"

A small O shape appeared on Hazel's lips as she apparently realized what everyone meant by 'Mr. D.'

"**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.**

**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."**

**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"**

**"Y-yes, Mr. D."**

**"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"**"

"No way." Leo muttered. "If he's Aphrodite then I'm Khione."

Jason and Piper groaned.

"**"You're a god."**

**"Yes, child."**

**"A god. You."**"

"Don't sound so incredulous, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth murmured.

"**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.**"

"You still could be." Grover said.

"**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.**

**"No. No, sir."**

**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."**

**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."**

**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.**"

"He didn't vaporize Chiron?" Leo said in disbelief.

"**"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."**"

"It was perfect, you… you… you…" Thalia was struggling to find a word that wouldn't force everyone to expand their colorful vocabulary too much.

"**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."**

**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."**

**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.**"

"You disgusting alcoholic!" Thalia finally came up with a good insult that wouldn't scar everyone in the room.

"**"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.**

**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."**

**"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"**

**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."**

**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in America?"**"

"Well, duh!" Leo said, imitating Mr. D.

"**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."**

**"The what?"**

**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know-or as I hope you know, since you passed my course**-"

"You… passed something?" Annabeth said.

"Have some faith, Wise Girl."

""**The heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps-Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on-but the same forces,**

**the same gods."**

**"And then they died."**

**"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings**

**in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not-and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either-America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."**"

Leo was pretending to take notes in the air. When Thalia glared at him he put his arm down.

"**It was all too much, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club.**

**"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"**"

"Percy Jackson," Hazel muttered, smirking at Percy.

"**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.**

**"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."**"

"I could go for some s'mores right now." Frank said mournfully.

Suddenly there was a _Pop! _and a plate of s'mores appeared on the table. Everyone dove for one, which ended in a lot of headaches, but eventually they were all eating.

"**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.**"

"Centaur." Hazel murmured.

"**I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk. "What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."**"

"Gotta love the other campers." Thalia said, grinning.

"I call reading next!" Grover shouted, wrenching the book from Thalia's iron grip.

"Hey!" She protested. "Give it back!"

"Your turns over, Pinecone Face." Percy said, smirking at Thalia's angry expression.

"Fine," she murmured. "You're going to regret this someday, Underwood." Thalia threatened and saw Grover rolling his eyes.

**~Yours truly**

**Jypsi**


	7. I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters or the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series. They belong to Rick Riordan.**

**SPOILER ALERT**

**(I apologize in advance for any misspellings, grammar errors, or capitalization errors.)**

**Thank you all for the wonderful reviews :)**

**Chapter 6: I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom**

**Grover POV**

"**Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, we had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him. I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.**"

Grover glared at Percy for a minute before saying, "Not like the front, huh?" Percy smiled cheekily.

"**We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's him."**"

"Obviously." Thalia said, rolling her eyes. "I'm almost glad I didn't make it. That way I would have been spared the stares at least."

"**Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.**"

"We still are." Leo said, even though he wasn't there.

Percy stood up and, like Percy, he did a flip and sat back down.

Leo stared, his eyes wide. "I didn't mean it-"

"Bro, I couldn't be outdone." Percy said, grinning. Annabeth was too.

"**I looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized-four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.**"

"I'm always being watched." Percy said.

"What do you mean?" Piper said.

"Have you not seen the way the ladies turn?" Percy said, smirking. Annabeth elbowed him and he rolled his eyes.

"**"What's up there?" I asked Chiron.**

**He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."**

**"Somebody lives there?"**

**"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."**"

"Not really a lie…" Jason said, nodding.

"**I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.**

**"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."**

**We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.**"

Grover whipped out his reed pipe and played the tune they meant, causing strawberry vines to ensnare Nico's feet.

"Whoa bro!" Nico yelled, grabbing for his Stygian Iron sword and hacking away at the strawberries. Grover smirked.

"**Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."**"

"Almost no effort?" Annabeth said incredulously. "I spent hours of back-breaking effort picking those things!"

"**He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead.**

**I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music. I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.**"

Grover grimaced. At the time, he hadn't been able to, but now he could definitely.

"**"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."**

**Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."**"

Annabeth, Thalia, and Percy all grimaced with Grover. The others looked at them strangely.

"**"But he did that!"**

**"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."**"

"Plenty of courage." Thalia growled, and Annabeth was scowling. Percy didn't look extremely pleased either.

"**I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty. If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble.**"

"I'll say!" Annabeth said, frowning at Percy. The son of Poseidon held his hands up in surrender.

"**"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"**

**Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago.**"

"He did fine the first time!" Thalia shouted. Grover winced.

"Luke would agree." Annabeth said, her voice asking people to challenge the answer and see if they lived to tomorrow.

Thalia and Percy frowned at the mention of Luke, but quickly regained their scowls.

"**Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age... ."**

**"How old is he?"**"

"Never ask how old somebody is, Percy!" Hazel scolded.

"Oops." Percy said, grinning.

"**"Oh, twenty-eight."**

**"What! And he's in sixth grade?"**"

"Held back a lot," Thalia joked. Grover rolled his eyes.

"**"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."**

**"That's horrible."**"

"You don't know the half of it," Grover said.

"**"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career... ."**

**"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"**"

Thalia and Annabeth both turned their heads down, and Grover felt himself wincing.

"**Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"**

**But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word death. The beginnings of an idea-a tiny, hopeful fire-started forming in my mind.**"

"Your ideas are the worst." Frank muttered.

"Hey! What about that one in Alaska!" Percy said indignantly.

"Where we left Hazel alone to be taken by evil grass?" Frank said, arching his eyebrows.

Percy winced. "No, I meant when I got the Fifth Legion's eagle back." Frank's face fell when he saw Percy wince. Hazel glared at the Chinese demigod.

"**"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."**

**"Yes, child?"**

**"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"**"

Annabeth face palmed. Grover shuddered at the memory of the Underworld. Percy said, "yes, I can confirm that it is very real, having been there twice."

"Twice?" Jason said.

"Yep. First for a quest, second for the Curse of Achilles." Percy replied.

"**Chiron's expression darkened.**

**"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind."**"

Piper nodded. Grover supposed she had experience with captured relatives.

"**"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"**

**"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."**"

"Not much to see." Thalia muttered. Leo snickered.

"**As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.**"

Piper shot Percy a look that said, _Are you making fun of Native Americans?_ and Percy responded with a quick shake of his head.

"**Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."**

**"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"**"

"Armed with what?" Leo laughed.

"Stocked with what?" Jason was laughing too.

Percy started twirling a pen, Riptide around in his fingers. Everyone scooted their chairs a few inches farther from him, except Annabeth-who leaned forward to avoid being hit by the pen-and Jason, Piper, and Leo. Grover realized they didn't quite understand what all Riptide had done yet.

"**"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"**

**"My own-?"**"

"Sword and shield dummy." Thalia said, finally voicing what they were all thinking.

"**"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later."**"

"You were a size five?" Jason said, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm an eight now!" Percy said defensively.

"I'm still a five." Leo said.

"I can believe that," Thalia said, finally breaking the silence.

"**I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.**"

"I always won those, didn't I, Prissy?" A familiar, gruff voice said from over by Thalia.

"Not against me, you didn't, Lamer." Percy replied, using the nickname everyone had given the girl's spear.

"Clarisse." Annabeth said grudgingly.

"Miss. Princess." Clarisse said, nodding at her. "I already know you three," Clarisse said eyeing Jason, Piper, and Leo, "And you, well I'm surprised to see you Shocky." She said, nodding at Thalia who rolled her eyes. "And you're the satyr," She said, acknowledging Grover and refusing to use his name-as always, "Obviously know you two," She curled her lips back at Percy and Annabeth, "But these two… Prissy are you needing me to beat them up?"

"Nah, that's Hazel, Daughter of Pluto, and Frank, son of Mars." Percy said, smiling at her unhappy expression.

"Hmm, you don't look like any Roman brother of mine," Clarisse said, frowning at Frank. "Ah well." When Grover didn't do anything she said, "Any day now, Under-dork." Grover rolled his eyes and continued.

"**"Sword and spear fights?" I asked.**

**"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually. Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."**"

"Only lethal when she's involved." Annabeth said, nodding at Clarisse.

"I warned you that Hannie didn't like it when Drake said he was better, but you didn't listen." Clarisse said, shaking her head.

"Your cabinmate killed mine!" Annabeth said, exasperated.

"She had good reason!" Clarisse said, shrugging.

"Like what?!" Annabeth said.

"His pride." Clarisse said, smirking when Annabeth had to be held back by Percy.

"**Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.**

**"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.**

**Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird. "We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to drop the subject.**"

"You've always been a _little _weird." Grover muttered.

"**Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen.**

**Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory.**"

"It is a tiny factory." Leo said proudly.

"**Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at.**"

"Still is." Jason said, rolling his eyes at the Apollo cabin.

"**They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed). In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.**"

"Hestia." Nico whispered.

"**The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums-**"

"Percy! They are not mausoleums." Annabeth scolded. Thalia and Jason just nodded in agreement with Percy's description.

"**Big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.**

**"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.**"

"No, I bet it's Ares and Aphrodite." Leo said sarcastically.

Clarisse and Piper glared at him.

"**"Correct," Chiron said.**

**"Their cabins look empty."**

**"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."**"

"Not true anymore." Jason grumbled.

"**Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot. Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?**"

"A mascot? Really?" Hazel said.

"**I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three. It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom**

**of the ocean floor.**"

"It's the best of all cabins." Percy said, grinning at everyone.

"**I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"**

**Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there.**"

"You're an idiot." Clarisse said.

"Thanks," was all Percy said.

"**The place felt so sad and lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy."**"

"Yea, Kelp Head. Stop being nosy and go." Thalia said.

"**Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers. Number five was bright red-a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists. The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.**"

Clarisse glared at Percy until he started twirling Riptide around in his fingers again.

"**I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.**

**"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."**"

"Party ponies…" Annabeth said, causing a collective shudder to go through the Greeks.

"**"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."**

**He smiled down at me. "The Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."**"

"You're awful smart." Leo said.

"I get that a lot." Percy said.

"**"But, shouldn't you be dead?"**"

"You don't catch on quickly though." Piper said.

"I get that a lot, too."

"**Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."**"

"Always." Annabeth muttered. Clarisse looked ready to gag at her sappiness.

"**I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.**"

Everyone laughed, even Nico, which surprised Grover.

"**"Doesn't it ever get boring?"**

**"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."**

**"Why depressing?"**

**Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.**"

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"**"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."**

**The blond girl I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.**"

"The blond girl?" Annabeth said, looking at Percy coolly. "That's what I was?"

"You were also That-Girl-With-Princess-Curls. Which do you prefer?" Percy said.

"**When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.**"

"I probably was."

"**I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia was acting up. Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek. There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.**"

"It probably was."

"**"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."**

**Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it... ? A caduceus.**"

"Smooth, Prissy."

"Thanks, Lamer."

"**Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center. Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.**

**"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."**"

"You'll need it." Jason muttered.

"**He galloped away toward the archery range.**

**I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools.**"

"Probably knew they could beat up a scrawny kid like you." Clarisse said.

"Oh, really?" Percy said, a challenge laced in his words.

"**"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."**

**So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself. There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.**"

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Only you, Kelp Head."

"**Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven.**

**"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.**

**I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."**"

"As always." Annabeth muttered.

"**Everybody groaned.**

**A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."**"

Clarisse's face contorted into one of anger at the mention of the son of Hermes.

"**The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.**"

"Luke." Thalia said, a scowl on her face.

"**"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing. She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor for now."**"

"You did like him!" Piper exclaimed. Annabeth blushed.

"**"For now?" I asked.**

**"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."**"

Hazel and Frank looked like they were confused about the whole cabin thing, but Grover decided not to mention it.

"**I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about setting that down, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves. I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.**"

"Stolls." Annabeth muttered.

"**"How long will I be here?" I asked.**

**"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."**

**"How long will that take?"**

**The campers all laughed.**"

Piper, Jason, and Leo were frowning. Grover realized they came after the Titan War, so they hadn't had to endure waiting hopelessly like many other campers.

"**"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court."**

**"I've already seen it."**

**"Come on." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me.**"

"Still laughing, I'm sure." Clarisse said, rolling her eyes.

"**When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."**

**"What?"**"

"Seaweed Brain." Annabeth muttered.

"**She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."**"

"I am _The One_." Percy said, grinning. Grover expected Annabeth to smack him, but instead she just rolled her eyes and snuggled closer up to him.

"PDA!" Thalia shouted.

"**"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy-"**

**"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"**"

"Most of them." Grover said, rolling his eyes.

"**"To get killed?"**

**"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"**"

"Still dense, I see." Frank said.

"**I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."**

**"Yes."**

**"Then there's only one."**

**"Yes."**

**"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."**

**"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."**

**"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."**

**"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually, they re-form."**"

"You're confusing, Annabeth." Piper said.

"**I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword-"**

**"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."**

**"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"**

**"You talk in your sleep."**"

"And drool." Hazel added.

"**"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"**"

"Well-"

"We don't need a full-blown explanation of what Kindly-Ones are, Death Breath." Thalia said, cutting Nico off. He rolled his eyes.

"**Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her. "You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."**"

"Which you shouldn't have to do." Leo said.

"**"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny, even to myself, but right then I didn't care. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."**

**I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale.**"

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"**"You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent." She stared at me, waiting for me to get it.**

**"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said. "She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."**

**"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."**"

All the demigods in the room frowned sympathetically at young Percy.

"**"He's dead. I never knew him."**

**Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids. "Your father's not dead, Percy."**

"**How can you say that? You know him?"**

**"No, of course not."**

**"Then how can you say-"**

**"Because I know you. You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."**"

Grover glanced at Percy. He knew he would've liked that Annabeth said "us."

"**"You don't know anything about me."**

**"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."**"

Leo nodded sympathetically.

"**"How-"**

**"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."**"

All of the demigods, except Frank, grimaced.

"**I tried to swallow my embarrassment.**"

"You didn't have to be embarrassed, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said, smiling with a kind of sadness in her eyes.

"**"What does that have to do with anything?"**

**"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD-you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battle-field reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you**

**seeing them for what they are."**"

Piper was smiling broadly. Percy was smiling only slightly though, Grover noticed. He supposed Percy was remembering being called crazy for seeing the truth.

"**"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?"**

**"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."**"

Everyone nodded.

"**"Ambrosia and nectar."**

**"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."**"

Grover paused for effect.

"**A half-blood.**

**I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start.**

**Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"**"

Annabeth shot Clarisse a smirk. Clarisse frowned.

"**I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin was sauntering toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.**"

"Did you just call me ugly, Jackson?" Clarisse said threateningly.

"Yep." Percy replied.

"Okay, just checking." She replied, surprising Thalia so much she fell out of her chair.

"**"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"**

**"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."**"

"You wish." Annabeth said challengingly.

"**''Erre es korakas!" Annabeth said, which I somehow understood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded. "You don't stand a chance."**"

"You really did though, if I hadn't been fish food." Percy said, rolling his eyes. Annabeth smacked him.

"**"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"**

**"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."**"

Frank grimaced as it finally clicked that this was his sister.

"**I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"**

**Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"**

**"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."**"

"Oooh… Burn…" Leo said, smirking. Percy grinned.

"**Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."**

**"Percy."**

**"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."**

**"Clarisse-" Annabeth tried to say.**

**"Stay out of it, wise girl."**"

"Hey! Is that where you got my nickname?" Annabeth said.

"I dunno." Percy replied.

"**Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and I didn't really want her help. I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep.**"

"And a rep you earned," Grover said, smirking.

"**I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom.**"

"Swirlies on the first day," Leo said, whistling. I think that beat my record. Percy, Annabeth and Grover just grinned from ear to ear.

"**I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron. She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking-as much as I could think with Clarisse ripping my hair out-that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns.**"

Everyone busted out laughing.

"**Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.**"

"Called adrenaline, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said, rolling her eyes.

"**"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."**"

"Need to work on your insults, Clarisse." Piper said, raising her eyebrows.

"Watch it, Glamour Girl." Clarisse said.

"**Her friends snickered.**

**Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.**"

"You were a big help." Percy said sarcastically.

"**Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets. I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.**"

"You will, you will…" Grover heard Leo chanting.

"**Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach. I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me.**"

"Yes!" Annabeth shouted, pumping her fists in the air.

"**I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt. The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.**"

"Score One: Percy!" Thalia said, grinning like a mad woman.

"**She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her. But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.**

**As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.**"

Everyone was laughing. Leo was giggling from the floor, where he had fallen, and Nico was doubled over. Jason was trying not to choke on his apple. Percy was laughing at the murderous expression on Clarisse's face.

"**The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared. She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock.**

**I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes.**"

"I wonder why…" Frank said, tapping his chin.

"**Nothing.**"

"You already said that, Kelp Head." Thalia muttered at the book.

"**I stood up, my legs shaky.**

**Annabeth said, "How did you ..."**

**"I don't know."**"

Annabeth was still shaking her head and grinning.

"**We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave me a look of absolute hatred.**"

"Like the one she's giving you now?" Nico asked.

"Yup." Percy replied.

Everyone was laughing again.

"**"You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."**

**I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."**"

"Should have done it." Grover muttered to himself.

"**Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.**

**Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.**"

"Both." Annabeth replied.

"**"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"**

**"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."**"

"And one your team, I was." Percy said.

Grover clapped his hands. "Alrighty, who's next?"

"I'll give it a go." Frank said, smiling. Grover passed over the book.

**~Yours truly**

**Jypsi**


	8. My Dinner Goes Up In Smoke

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters or the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series. They belong to Rick Riordan.**

**SPOILER ALERT**

**(I apologize in advance for any misspellings, grammar errors, or capitalization errors.)**

**Sorry I'm posting this so late guys, but I haven't been feeling good at all lately. I won't tell you what, because it will just sound like more of an excuse but please forgive me. I may not be updating every other day anymore like I was hoping, because of the start of school and everything else that's going on, but I will make sure to do at least once a week.**

**Thank you so much for all your support on the story by the way!**

**And, I got a couple reviews telling me Percy has actually been to the Underworld three times, and I am super sorry! I put two because I had not read the story on how Thalia, Nico and Percy went to the Underworld and washed Iapetus' (Bob's) memory in the River Lethe. I had completely forgotten about that being mentioned in the House of Hades as well. Thanks for telling me!**

**Chapter 7: My Dinner Goes Up In Smoke**

**Frank POV**

"**Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet.**"

There was a loud _Splash! _and then a girl's high-pitched scream of, "PERSEUS JACKSON!"

"You needed to fit the mood!" Percy protested as Annabeth whipped out her dagger and turned to face him. She may have been sopping wet but she still looked absolutely murderous.

"Dry me. NOW." She said, pinning him to the ground.

Apparently Percy thought this was funny because he started laughing.

"What?!" Annabeth cried. "What are you laughing at?!"

"You wouldn't hurt me." He managed to choke out between laughs.

Annabeth growled at him and then slapped him in the face. He continued laughing and dried her.

Once Annabeth appeared to be satisfied, Frank cleared his throat and continued.

"**She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man), and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.**"

"I bet you were good at that." Frank said sarcastically.

"Why of course, Frank!" Percy said, smiling.

"Actually you almost fell the first few times and I had to drag you up. And then there was that one time that some lava came flying right by you and you screamed, but I thought you were just scared, and when I looked down your pants were gone." Grover said, nodding his head thoughtfully.

"They didn't need to know that." Percy muttered, blushing slightly.

"Did you still have your underwear on?" Leo said, smirking.

"Of course," Percy said. "My AquaMan boxers were there the whole time."

"**Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.**

**"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."**

**"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."**

**"Whatever."**

**"It wasn't my fault."**"

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at Percy.

"**She looked at me skeptically, and I realized it was my fault. I'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. I didn't understand how. But the toilets had responded to me. I had become one with the plumbing.**"

"Hail, Percy Jackson. The great god of plumbing!" Piper said, laughing.

"**"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.**

**"Who?"**"

"She said _the _Oracle. Weren't you listening Percy?" Hazel said, her eyes questioning.

"Of course." Percy said.

"**"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."**

**I stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once.**"

"She did give you a straight answer." Jason said.

"**I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below. They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend.**

**I didn't know what else to do. I waved back.**"

"There's Percy," Frank mumbled. "Getting girls to wave since he was twelve years old."

Annabeth glared at Frank.

"**"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."**"

"Percy apparently wasn't." Leo said, smirking at Annabeth's rude gesture.

"**"Naiads," I repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."**

**Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."**

**"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"**"

"Well…" Piper said, "you're not wrong…"

"**"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."**

**"Half-human and half-what?"**"

"Were you not paying attention to Chiron?" Hazel said skeptically.

"**"I think you know."**

**I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid I did. I felt a tingling in my limbs, a sensation I sometimes felt when my mom talked about my dad.**

**"God," I said. "Half-god."**"

"Finally." Clarisse muttered.

"**Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."**

**"That's ... crazy."**

**"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"**"

"Some more than others." Annabeth muttered. When there was a small thunderclap she said, "I'm talking to you, Apollo and Hermes!"

"**"But those are just-" I almost said myths again. Then I remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, I might be considered a myth. "But if all the kids here are half-gods-"**

**"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."**"

"So can I call myself the Half-Blood Prince then?" Nico said.

Frank didn't understand but Annabeth growled, "Snape lives you little-"

"Now, now Annabeth let's use nice words." Thalia said, grinning.

"**"Then who's your dad?"**

**Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling I'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject.**"

"I'll say," Grover murmured. "Tried to gut me the first time I asked."

"**"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."**

**"He's human."**

**"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"**"

"Hmm, point taken. After all, Aphrodite and Athena have the third and fourth biggest cabins at camp." Percy said, smirking until Annabeth elbowed him.

"**"Who's your mom, then?"**

**"Cabin six."**"

"That's Annabeth for you." A new voice said. Frank didn't recognize it.

"I'll say, constantly being a smarta-" Another said, just to be interrupted.

"Connor we've already gone over bad words with Annabeth." Thalia said, glaring at one of the two boys, twins it appeared, walked in. "That goes for you too, Travis."

"Who are the newbies?" One of the two asked.

Hazel spoke up for Frank luckily. "I'm Hazel, daughter of Pluto, and this is Frank, son of Mars."

"Ohh… Romans." The other said, grinning.

"Tell them who you are, idiots." Annabeth said.

"Connor-" said the one wearing a green shirt.

"And Travis." said the one in orange.

"Sons of Hermes." said Connor.

"God of thieves and travelers. Course you know him as Mercury." said Travis.

"You can read now, Frank." Percy said, looking at him worriedly. Frank realized he was staring at the ground.

"**"Meaning?"**

**Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."**

**Okay, I thought. Why not?**

**"And my dad?"**

**"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."**"

"He's intelligent at some point, I think." Grover said.

"**"Except my mother. She knew."**

**"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."**

**"My dad would have. He loved her."**

**Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble. "Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens.**

**"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"**"

"That's what sometimes means, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth muttered.

**Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."**"

"Until someone came along and changed that." Thalia said. When Frank, Hazel, Jason, Leo and Piper looked at her strangely she said, "Maybe you'll find out someday."

"**I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. I'd known kids like that at Yancy Academy, shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them. But gods should behave better.**"

"I'll say." Leo grunted.

"**"So I'm stuck here," I said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"**

**"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force.**"

"He definitely was not a child of Aphrodite." Travis said, snickering.

"Hey!" Percy protested.

"**The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble-about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."**"

"Yup." Nico said.

"**"So monsters can't get in here?"**

**Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."**

**"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"**

**"Practice fights. Practical jokes."**

**"Practical jokes?"**"

"Remember that time with the Dracaenae, Travis?" Connor said.

"Oh, yes!" Travis said grinning. "And we had all the campers fake scream for Percy?"

"Yup!" Connor was smiling from ear-to-ear. "And he came running and killed it with one strike?"

Percy was blushing.

"Thought he was super special the rest of the day?" Annabeth said. "Everyone remembers that. Apparently Percy can be a little prideful." She grinned at Percy.

"What about that time with the giant spider Leo got?" Jason said. Annabeth grimaced.

"And Piper put it in the Athena cabin?" Leo said.

"And after s'mores that night they all thought Travis and Connor did it?" Piper said.

"Yea, that wasn't fair." Travis said and Connor nodded in agreement.

Frank could tell they had lots more stories to tell, so he quickly started reading again.

"**"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."**

**"So ... you're a year-rounder?"**

**Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.**"

Annabeth frowned and pulled out the necklace Percy must have been talking about. It now had nine beads plus the ring.

"**"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."**

**"Why did you come so young?"**"

"Oh, that's a dangerous question with Annabeth." Clarisse said, frowning. Annabeth looked stunned that Clarisse knew this.

"**She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."**

**"Oh." I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"**

**"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..."**

**"Unless?"**

**"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time ..."**"

"The last time was when Luke went to the garden of Hesperides, right?" Thalia said. Grover nodded, looking over at Annabeth whose face was clean of emotion.

"**Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.**

**"Back in the sick room," I said, "when you were feeding me that stuff-"**

**"Ambrosia."**

**"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."**

**Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you do know something?"**"

"Always eager and annoying." Leo said, rolling his eyes. "Leo, when is this ship going to be done?! Leo Percy could by dying! Leo why is this taking so long?! Leo, Leo, Leo!" He seemed to be imitating Annabeth. Annabeth blushed.

"**"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"**

**She clenched her fists. "I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."**"

"Mother always prefered you!" Grover said in a deep voice, probably imitating one of the Olympians. "Your domain is bigger than mine!" He said, pretending to argue between himself.

"**"You've been to Olympus?"**

**"Some of us year-rounders-Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others-we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."**"

"Why big? Isn't there one on the summer solstice too?" Piper said.

"Hades comes to the winter one." Nico stated.

"**"But... how did you get there?"**

**"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at me like she was sure I must know this already. "You are a New Yorker, right?"**

**"Oh, sure." As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out.**"

"Probably a good idea, considering it's Annabeth you were talking to." Leo said.

"**"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping ... I mean-Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."**"

"Percy? Know something?" Thalia said incredulously. "You must be kidding."

"**I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions.**

**"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem ..."**"

"I would like to think the too young rule had stayed in place but sadly, no." Grover said.

"**I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later. I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan. Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I**

**noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles. They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers. Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to me as I walked over to my spot on the floor and plopped down with my minotaur horn.**"

"Actually everyone was probably staring at you, but your version works too." Travis said.

"**The counselor, Luke, came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.**

**"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."**

**I couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part.**"

"Heck no!" Connor said, sounding offended.

"**I said, "Thanks."**

**"No prob." Luke sat next to me, pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"**

**"I don't belong here," I said. "I don't even believe in gods."**

**"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier."**

**The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. He looked like he could handle just about anything.**"

Thalia, Connor, Travis, Percy, Annabeth, Clarisse, Grover and Nico all frowned. Apparently this assumption was wrong on Percy's part, Frank thought.

"**"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked.**

**He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a second I thought he was going to gut me, but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes."**"

"Probably thought about it." Clarisse grumbled.

"**"The wing-footed messenger guy."**

**"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."**"

Frank looked over at the sons of Hermes currently in the room. They didn't look real thrilled to have had Luke as a brother.

"**I figured Luke didn't mean to call me a nobody. He just had a lot on his mind.**"

"Everybody called you a nobody." Grover said.

"Gee, thanks." Percy responded sarcastically.

"**"You ever meet your dad?" I asked.**

**"Once."**

**I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar.**"

Annabeth grimaced. Apparently she had been there.

"**Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."**"

Frank looked over to see Thalia and Percy having a playful wrestling match. Every now and then Thalia would shock Percy, just to be hit by a small wave of water.

He cleared his throat and the two went back to their respective chairs, Thalia was sopping wet while Percy's hair was standing on end.

"**He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an older guy like him-even if he was a counselor-should've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day.**"

"It was pretty cool what you did to Clarisse though." Leo said, nodding thoughtfully.

"I know right." Percy said, grinning.

"**I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"**"

"I _knew _those things would get to you." Annabeth mumbled.

"You _know _a lot of stuff, Wise Girl." Percy said, smirking.

"**Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."**

**"What do you mean?"**

**His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until... somebody special**

**came to the camp."**"

"Percy was certainly special." Piper said sarcastically. Everyone laughed.

"**"Somebody special?"**

**"Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, it's dinnertime."**"

"Only difference was, I was _the one_." Percy grinned.

Annabeth elbowed him, but looked up at him fondly.

"PDA!" Thalia shouted.

"**The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before.**"

Hazel said, "Cough cough, Poseidon, cough." Just as Percy said, :It all makes sense now!"

"**Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"**

**The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down.**"

Thalia nodded superiorly.

"**We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods-and when I say out of the woods, I mean straight out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill.**"

"Dryads." Grover mumbled.

"**In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads. At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off.**"

"I'm sure that felt great." Jason said.

"**I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur. Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.**"

"Honey blond?" Annabeth said, frowning at Percy.

"**Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.**"

Everyone laughed, because just then Clarisse had let out a loud burp.

"**Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"**"

There was a loud _POP! _and suddenly a number of plates appeared on the table. With another pop, some goblets appeared with a note.

"_It is time for your dinner, and after this chapter a door will open next to the fireplace that goes to your rooms for the night. One room per god, which means some of you will have to share with a sibling. -Hera._" Annabeth read allowed.

The room was quiet until Percy sat back down with a plate and goblet and said, "Blue cheese pizza! Blue cherry coke!" Everyone laughed and began getting their food.

"**Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"**"

"To the gods!" Echoed around the room.

"**Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want-nonalcoholic, of course."**

**I said, "Cherry Coke."**

**The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid.**

**Then I had an idea. "Blue Cherry Coke."**"

"Seaweed Brain." Annabeth murmured around a mouthful of mac-and-cheese.

"**The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt.**

**I took a cautious sip. Perfect.**

**I drank a toast to my mother.**

**She's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then someday…**"

"No way, Kelp Head." Thalia said, frowning at Percy.

"**"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.**

**I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion. I wondered if they were going for dessert or something.**"

"Dessert!" Leo said, laughing.

"**"Come on," Luke told me.**

**As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.**

**Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."**"

Everyone quickly got up and went to the fireplace to drop something in. Percy was last, and Frank thought he could see a little sadness in his sea green eyes as he dropped his greasiest slice of pizza into the fire.

"Be a man, Fish Face." Nico said, elbowing Percy as the son of Poseidon pretended to wipe a tear from his eye.

"**"You're kidding."**

**His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food.**

**Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."**

**I was next.**

**I wished I knew what god's name to say. Finally, I made a silent plea. Whoever you**

**are, tell me. Please. I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames. When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag. It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke.**"

"They don't live off of it." Jason stated.

"**When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.**

**Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."**"

"Yuck." Leo said, forcing him to duck to avoid Clarisse's fist.

"**A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.**"

"Cheering can't be ugly," Piper stated.

"But the Ares cabin made it work." Percy replied, and he too had to duck to keep Clarisse's fist from meeting his face.

"**"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."**

**Chiron murmured something.**

**"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."**"

"Silly?!" Said another new voice indignantly.

"Yo, Will!" Percy said, "Long time no see, man!"

The new boy stepped forward. He was holding a bow, Frank noticed immediately.

"Hey Perce!" The boy, Will looked around. "Who are you two?" He said, his eyes landing on Frank and Hazel.

This time Frank stepped up to speak. "I'm Frank, son of Mars. This is Hazel, daughter of Pluto."

"Ah. The Romans." Will grinned. "I'm Will Solace, son of Apollo."

"Let's continue," Hazel said, before Frank could ask about his bow.

"**Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along.**"

"It's called a musical, not a sing-along. Dimwit." Will said to Percy. Percy grinned.

"**We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home.**"

Everyone smiled at that. Percy blushed.

"You still are," Annabeth murmured.

"**Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag. My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her**

**smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.**"

"Bedbugs?" Clarisse said, breaking the awkward silence that had ensued. "You're afraid of bedbugs?" Percy smirked.

"Course not, Clarisse." He said.

"**When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly. That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood.**"

"Sounds better than mine." Piper grumbled.

"**I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.**"

"Sounds like mine!" Thalia said, grinning.

"I call reading next!" Percy said, grinning evilly in Clarisse's direction.

A note fluttered down and landed on Percy's lap. "_No! you all have to go to bed. -Hera_." He read aloud. A large section of wall opened next to the fireplace, as promised. Percy went to the opening and, peering around the corner warily, said "All clear."

Everyone followed down and found their respective rooms.

When Frank and Clarisse entered Ares' room though, Frank immediately turned around. Why? There were spears, swords and dummies everywhere. Not what he wanted to go to sleep to. He turned and went to the Apollo room, where he and Will practiced archery for a while.

**Percy POV**

Percy walked into Poseidon's room to find a large whirlpool in the corner with a TV and stack of old sea movies. He grabbed _Finding Nemo_, got it playing, changed into the swim trunks that were on his bed and sat down in the whirlpool to watch the movie.

**Annabeth POV**

The Athena rom was as Annabeth had expected. Blueprints laid over the desks everywhere, a giant SmartBoard to draw battle plans on. Daedalus' laptop was even sitting on the bed, fully charged. She went to work on some blueprints for Olympus until she fell asleep.

**Jason POV**

Zeus' room was a lot like the cabin at camp. Big, marble, and creepy because of the giant statue of Zeus in the middle. He and Thalia both went to the two corners not under Zeus' stare, and then began having shock wars. A lot like tickle wars, except you shock each other.

**Piper POV**

Piper walked into the Aphrodite room to find a bright pink vanity table with every hair and makeup supply Kim Kardashian could ever want. She immediately turned and went to Jason and Thalia's room, where she had to break up a shock war that had started between the two.

"Oh, there are only two beds." Thalia mumbled.

"I can go back to my room-" Piper started.

"No, it's fine. I'll go to Artemis' room." She said, turning and strolling out. "Night!" She said cheerfully before leaving Jason and Piper alone.

**Thalia POV**

Artemis' room glowed like moonlight on the inside, with little baby animals everywhere and a fake bow and arrows set to practice on the monster holograms appearing everywhere. Thalia started shooting at the Minotaur until she finally fell asleep.

**Travis POV**

Travis and Connor walked into the Hermes room just to find themselves surrounded by extremely modern video games.

There was an X-Box hooked up to one TV that Connor went to immediately to start playing Halo, but Travis dove for the PlayStation 4, where he began playing Call of Duty.

They didn't fall asleep until close to 1 A.M.

**Leo POV**

Leo walked into Hephaestus' room just to find himself surrounded by assorted tools, items, and blueprints. He sat to work on an upgrade for Buford, his favorite table on the Argo II.

He finally fell asleep with his face on a wrench, leaving a strange impression on his right cheek in the morning.

**Hazel POV**

Hazel and Nico walked into a room that looked a lot like the palace of the Underworld. Nico seemed to be right at home, but Hazel wasn't.

To fix the issue she summoned some schist she had been sensing underneath them for a while and climbed to the top, where she began practicing her newly-learned Greek moves that Percy had been teaching her.

**Grover POV**

Grover walked into the wild. Not literally, like the African safari, but like the woods. Real trees were growing everywhere, wildflowers blooming in their wake. He climbed up on a tree and began tooting some tunes on his reed pipe until he finally lulled himself to sleep.

**~Yours truly**

**Jypsi**


	9. With Love

Hey guys! It's Jypsi here! I just wanted to say, thank you for being awesome readers! I loved all of the kind reviews and help in correcting myself! And I'm so sorry you all had to wait for this update for so long, and that it's not going to be everything you hoped for.

This is the last time I'm going to be updating. Not on the entire site, no way! Just this story! See, I was warned a long time ago, and knew from the get go that copyrighting would be a problem with this story. I'm sorry to have led you all on for so long, too. But today I got a new review saying that, to my expectations that had sadly become a reality a mere day before I was going to update again, I had been reported.

I wish I could say I ignored it. That it was an empty threat. But this person has taught me a lesson, and hopefully I have taught her one throughout our short correspondence, that authors don't appreciate this kind of fanfiction. She is one herself, she should know.

So for one last time, I'm saying goodbye. Not to the entire website, just this fanfiction. I'm not going to delete this story, I'll let staff do that, but I am going to take down the next story votes on my bio. Please understand, the person who got me to do this didn't threaten me or send hate mail. Please don't report her. She has helped me to understand what goes on in an author's mind when they see fanfictions like this, and I hope I have helped her see what goes on in the fanfictioner's mind when they see messages like hers.

Before I go, one quick thing to say to you all, and interpret it how you want: Before you fly, make sure there aren't holes in your wings. Trust me, I have learned the hard way, and for that lesson I am thankful.

So, quoting Rick Riordan in The Last Olympian, "For once, I didn't look back."

Goodbye, my amazing readers, and I hope that I never regret writing this and you never regret reading it.

I'll miss you all so much, and thank you, for everything.

~Yours forever and truly always

Jypsi


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